Islanders open homes as festival visitors descend

THE people of Stornoway have opened their homes to help cope with an accommodation shortage due to a record invasion of visitors to the town.

The normal island population of 20,000 has been swelled by 16,000 this week due to the Hebridean Celtic Festival, which ends tomorrow, on top of the usual summer visitors.

With registered hotels and guest houses booked up across Lewis and Harris six months ago, householders are offering spare rooms, often free, as well as garden space for tents.

Now in its tenth year, the festival is attracting visitors from 40 countries who generate about 1.5 million to the island's economy. It is now considered one of the UK's leading music events, with headline acts this year including Van Morrison and Runrig.

Morrison, who flew in for last night's gig by private plane, said before going on stage at a 5,000-capacity marquee that he was looking forward to playing in Stornoway for the first time.

The festival has grown from attracting about 1,000 people in its first year to a major international event which is providing long-term tourism benefits for the islands.

It is now rivalling the Royal National Mod, the annual Gaelic festival which is held at different locations in the Highlands and Islands and is said to bring in over 2 million.

Mary Ann MacIver, of VisitScotland Outer Hebrides, said: "With the artists we have this year we have seen bigger numbers. There has been a significant increase on accommodation requirements, people are offering beds in their houses because quality approved places are full up.

"This is already our peak time but we do see this week a big jump in numbers. The impact is felt across the islands. Tonight and tomorrow Lewis and Harris is full up.

"The amazing thing is that people don't expect money for it and it shows the hospitality of the islanders, who are opening up their homes to strangers and not for economic benefit for themselves.

"We see a long-term benefit from this as the festival is now a globally marketed event. We already have a high number of repeat visits, but this is a great marketing opportunity."

The ferry firm Caledonian MacBrayne, one of the sponsors, is on course to break last year's passenger numbers of 2,282 over three days. Yesterday it carried 604 passengers on one sailing of the Ullapool-Stornoway ferry, compared with 648 over three sailings last year.

A spokesman, Hugh Dan Maclennan, said the festival traffic has been a major boost to the company's figures this year. "This type of festival is key to our marketing strategy. We do not support it to make money, we support it as an investment in the future, as people who come here will come back," he said.